Nightmare
by AhmoseInarus
Summary: Let Me In: 16 - Just as the title says, Reid has a nightmare that scares him more than a nightmare has scared him in a LONG time. The team is there to comfort him when he wakes. H/R fluff


Nightmare

Hatochiisai

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds.

Hotch/Reid fluff

* * *

10:42 PM

* * *

The first thing that Reid registered was the smell… that nauseating familiar smell…

_They're burning fish hearts and livers… keeps away the devil…_

Reid groaned and opened his eyes. He lifted his head, and stared.

No… God no…

A small shack… a wood stove with sizzling fish entrails on it… a small room off to the side with four laptops set up inside. No… this was impossible. He couldn't be here… he couldn't!

"They believe that you can see inside men's minds." Reid whirled at the sickeningly familiar voice.

"No…" Reid gasped, his eyes growing wide at the sight of the man standing before him, tall and strong. "… It can't be… who… who are you?"

"… I'm Raphael."

"… No… no you're not… I… you… You're dead."

"That's right, boy." Came a frightening voice. Reid whirled. There standing before him was another man. He was exactly the same as the first, but so different. This man loomed over him, glaring down with dark accusing eyes. "You're a sinner. Worse than ever before. You've broken another of the Ten Commandments. You're a murderer."

Reid's heart was pounding. He looked back and forth between the two corners of the room, staring at Raphael and Charles Hankel… How was this possible?

"I told you…" Came the small quavery voice that Reid sometimes still heard in the back of his mind… Reid turned and stared. "It's no use fighting him. He'll win in the end."

"Tobias…" Reid breathed, staring at the man cowering in the third corner. Tobias offered Reid a small smile. Then he looked at the last corner.

"Tell me it doesn't help?"

Reid turned and followed Tobias' gaze. There in the last corner, sat the green wooden chair with a pair of handcuffs sitting on it… along with a syringe and a familiar glass bottle. Reid's eyes widened and the color drained from his face.

"You're pathetic." Charles scoffed.

"It's time to confess your sins." Raphael said, his voice cold and calm, as always. "All of them."

"If you use it… you can escape." Tobias offered with a hopeful smile. He looked at the Dilaudid, and Reid fought not to follow his gaze again. The wind outside blew, and the cabin seemed to dissolve around him. He was on his knees on the ground in the graveyard, a freshly dug grave before him. He turned his head and looked behind him. The three men stood there. Raphael was holding the revolver, sliding a bullet into a chamber. He spun it, and snapped it into place.

"For God's Will…" He said, and aimed at Reid then… waited.

Charles was holding a hunting knife. "This'll all be over sooner if you would just confess, Spencer Reid."

Finally, there was Tobias. He was standing there, holding the filled syringe. "We can't be saved. It's not worth fighting. This will make it better. You know it will."

"You're weak…" Charles sneered as Reid stared at the needle. Then, Reid heard it… a twig snapped. Dead leaves crunched under feet… And then the call…

"REID!" His eyes widened. Hotch… Hotch was calling for him. He turned, and he saw the lights of the flashlights moving through the trees, coming closer.

"Hotch…" He breathed. But then, there was a strong arm around him, pinning his upper arms to his sides, and the cold blade of the hunting knife was at his throat. Hands fumbled at his right arm and a belt was tightened around his bicep. Then, he felt the pinch of the needle sliding into his vein.

"It helps…" Tobias whispered. "It will be over soon."

"Yes…" Charles hissed into Reid's ear. "This ends now… Once we're done with you, we have them." And he forced Reid to look at his team, running towards them through the graveyard. Raphael turned his gun onto them.

"Choose one to die." The man said, calmly.

"No!" Reid cried. "HOTCH! MORGAN! RUN!"

"Choose one to die, and we'll let you choose one to live." Charles hissed.

"No…" Reid gasped.

"Then they're all dead." Charles hissed, and Raphael pulled the trigger. Reid tried to scream, but at that moment Charles drew the blade across his throat. He felt the hot blood running down his neck and chest… and then he felt Tobias injecting the drug. There was no pain from the slit throat. Reid collapsed on the ground. Gunshots continued to ring out through the air as Raphael pulled the trigger again and again and again…

"It's gonna be okay…" Tobias said softly, and Reid stared at him. He could still feel his blood gushing out of his severed jugular… He was covered in the stuff, thick and warm… "Don't worry… you'll get to see your mom…" Tobias said with a smile, and rolled Reid over. The ground disappeared and Reid fell into the deep, dark grave. He stared up at Tobias' face as he fell deeper and deeper and deeper… The gun in Raphael's hand was still going off, and somehow, Reid knew that his team would soon follow him in this deadly plunge into the hellish darkness…

And despite his cut throat, he screamed.

* * *

"REID!" He gasped as rough hands grabbed his arms and shook him, violently. "REID, SNAP OUT OF IT!"

"NO!" Reid cried, and his eyes flew open. He stared up at the faces hovering over him, all looking alarmed. His body was trembling violently and he was nearly hyperventilating… his clothes were soaked in sweat and tears were running down his face. He was lying on the couch in the jet… they were flying home from a case… He was with his team… He was safe…

"Reid…" Rossi called, not releasing his grip on Reid's biceps. He shook the boy slightly, and the youngest agent turned and stared the man in the eyes. Reid felt a hand on his shoulder, and another running up and down his spine.

"You okay, kid?" Morgan asked, squeezing Reid's shoulder. Hotch slid onto the couch behind Reid, and moved his hand from rubbing Reid's back, to rubbing over his stomach and chest in soothing circles.

"Shhhh…" The man hissed, and gently pressed a kiss to Reid's damp hair.

"Spence… are you okay?" JJ asked.

"… I… y-yeah…" Reid gasped out dryly. "I… a nightmare. It was… it was just a nightmare."

"I think it was more than JUST a nightmare." Prentiss said firmly, moving in between Rossi and Morgan and lifting a cup of water to Reid's lips. Reid accepted it, sipping slowly. His tremors were beginning to die down.

"What was it?" Rossi asked.

"Nothing…" Reid murmured.

"You had the bejeezus scared out of you by nothing? I find that unlikely." Rossi snorted.

"Reid." Hotch said, firmly, and Reid winced at how hard and stern the man's tone was.

"… It was… all three of them." Reid finally mumbled.

"Who?" Morgan asked.

"… Tobias… Raphael… Charles…" Reid gasped, leaning back into Hotchner's chest and drawing his knees up to his chest. Hotch wrapped one arm around Reid's middle, and the other over his shoulder and across his chest. Reid tilted his head to the side, resting it on the man's arm. Hotch lowered his head, pressing a kiss to Reid's now-exposed neck. His fingers traced gentle circles over the boy's chest and hip, and Hotch rocked him gently. JJ slid onto the sofa beside Reid and ran a tissue over his face, wiping away the cold sweat.

"Are you okay, Spence?"

"… Yeah… I will be…" Reid gasped.

"Are you sure?" Hotch asked. "I haven't seen a nightmare scare you like that in a long time…"

"What happened?" Morgan asked.

"… Charles cut my throat…" Reid whispered, his hand absently reaching up to cover his neck. "It didn't hurt… because Tobias gave me the… the…" His hand fell from his throat to grip his right inner elbow. The team didn't need him to finish that sentence.

"And Raphael… he… was shooting the gun."

"He shot you?" Rossi asked.

"No…"

"Who did he shoot?" Emily asked.

"… You." Reid breathed, his eyes growing wide. Hotch could feel Reid's pulse and respiration picking up again. "All of you…" The trembling began to appear once more. "Tobias pushed me into a… grave…" Reid continued, and gulped audibly. "A grave with… no bottom. I just kept falling… my neck was still bleeding. I could see Tobias watching me fall… And I could still hear Raphael shooting… And I just knew that I would see you guys fall into the gave after me and… and…" Tears breeched his eyes again and he bowed his head, hiding his face.

"Shhh… you're okay…" JJ murmured, running her fingers through Reid's hair.

"… I know…" Reid gasped. "… I know."

Slowly, the team moved back to their seats and settled in again. JJ sat before the table covered in case files. Morgan stuck his head into his headphones and Emily opened her book. Rossi sat back in his seat. They all watched Hotch lean against the wall, holding Reid close against his chest, enveloping the boy in his arms. Slowly Reid relaxed, resting his head on the elder profiler's shoulder and closing his eyes again. His breathing evened out and his trembling abated.

And soon, Reid was asleep. And Hotch wasn't far behind him. One by one, the rest of the team followed their example. Within half an hour, the plane was quiet and the six profilers slept peacefully.

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Watch out for the next one shot, "Domination"... Hotch and Reid decide to do some experimenting with exactly what the title says.

ALSO check out the next chapter of Unexpectedly Expecting!

And as always, please review!


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